


The Colors of Light

by CaptainSchmoe



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Felix also shows up in the first few chapters, Friendship, Gen, I played out the epilogue in my head and I made myself cry, Themes of suicide, Urban Fantasy, don't get attached to him, even Sean!, if you look real closely you can see my love for the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games woven in there, just warning you in case I ever get to that point, most likely, significantly less swearing than the usual fare, there's a reason he's not in the character list
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-05-21 17:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSchmoe/pseuds/CaptainSchmoe
Summary: In this world exist three large, lake-like natural structures called Inkwells. Every couple centuries or so, these wells fill up with Ink to the point of overflowing and staining the surrounding areas. Becoming stained with Ink causes people to become more inclined to exhibit certain character flaws; thus, strife increases. Three Lights were created by societies past to combat and neutralize the Inks. Each Light must be hosted by a single person.This time around, Mark, Seán, and Ethan will become the hosts. The story follows them as they acquire the Lights; try to avoid a cult-like group that is attempting to take them out; battle personal, internal struggles and insecurities; and face the reality of a high chance of becoming severely injured or dying as a result of taking on this task.UPDATE: This fic is going to be scrapped and rebooted once I finish "The Gauntlet". The basic premise and everyone's roles will remain the same, but certain dialogues, motives, and conflicts will be changed quite a lot.





	1. The Wells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A world-building prologue. Only the Archive doesn't let you do prologues AFAIK, so we'll just have to pretend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter is intentionally droll. Sorry about that. It gets better. Promise.

_“At the center of this continent lie a trio of large natural wells sitting triangularly with each other. We call these the Inkwells, as the liquids inside resemble ink in consistency and even color - one being magenta, one being yellow, and one being cyan. The colors mix together to form new colors, which are also in line with our understanding of mixing inks: magenta and yellow make red, yellow and cyan make green, cyan and magenta make blue, and all three make black._

 

_“Each color is closely associated with a negative aspect of human nature: magenta with anger, yellow with selfishness, and cyan with despair. These three colors can combine with each other to form tyranny (red), surrender (green), violence (blue), and self-destruction (black)._

 

_“The Inkwells’ liquids slowly fill up over time. It typically takes one to three centuries for the Inkwells to fill completely to the point of overflowing. Once they overflow, they stain the surrounding areas; any person, animal, or other living thing becomes stained upon physical contact with the Ink. Ink stains cause their respective breeds of negativity in individuals and communities. They change the colors of the victim’s body fluids - with clear fluids such as tears, sweat, saliva, and urine bearing the most striking changes - and even appear on the skin at the site of contact._

 

_“While it is predominantly humans who fall victim to these specific traits, studies continue to show that animals will demonstrate hostile behavior when stained with Ink, as well as blah blah blah…_

 

_“In order to combat the rising Ink levels, ancient societies have created the Lights, three amorphous balls of red, green, and blue light that can each be hosted by a single person. It is not known how these societies created the Lights, as records have been blah blah blah blah blah…_

 

_“It seems that any person is capable of hosting a Light, as evidenced by a small handful of hosts who didn’t seem to hold any important positions or statuses in their respective communities; however, the task is typically taken up by persons with a background in the military, emergency services, search and rescue, and similar, as these occupations have much in common with blahblahblahblah…_

 

_“Blah blah blah blah…_

 

_“Blah blah…_

 

_“Blaaaahhh…_

 

_“…The Inkwells are expected to begin overflowing again in the decade of 2020, give or take 10 years.”_


	2. Save Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who have seen the Tumblr post version of this chapter, this is relevant info for you. If you haven't, pay it no heed:
> 
> This is slightly altered from the original version I posted to Tumblr. I started outlining the plot and realized there were going to be some major plot holes, so I decided now would be the best time to start working things out before I pull an IWS and decide I'm going to change everything halfway through.

_“Seán! Are you okay?”_

 

_“It’s in my eye! It’s-”_

 

_“Seán, sit down. Please."_

 

_“Oh, God, I can’t see, I can’t see.”_

 

_“Just sit down, okay? Don't mess with it. I’m going to call an SOS.”_

 

* * *

 

 _Snap, snap, snap._  “Ethan. You listening?”

 

It didn’t matter if the topic was important. It didn’t matter if it was Brian’s voice reading it. As soon as a good-old-fashioned college textbook was cracked open, Ethan’s mind was sent scattering every which way except the one way it was supposed to go. But that’s also why Brian was here. To be a study buddy and help keep Ethan’s brain in line when it turned itself away again and again like a child vehemently refusing his medicine.

 

“Huh? Yeah, I- I got most of it.” No, of course he didn’t. No matter how much information he thought he took in, there was always about twice as much that he didn’t, whether he was aware of it or not.

 

“Okay, when are the Inkwells supposed to fill up next?”

 

Okay, that was easy. “2020. So, like… now, basically.”

 

“Good. How about the host casualty rate? What’s that?”

 

“Uh…” Well, crap, he missed that. “Okay, you got me.”

 

“Estimated 30% death and 60% illness or injury.” Man, Brian was so matter-of-fact with the voice of a professor. Maybe  _he_  should be a professor. Ethan would rather have him than the current one for this class, anyway.  _Judith._  For two hours, two days a week, for five weeks so far, he had to sit and let her voice power-drill holes into his eardrums. She had the personality to go with it, too. Snide, condescending… At least, that was the vibe Ethan got from her. Not very forgiving of his attention issues. Or anyone else’s, from the sounds of it. People knew her. People tried to avoid signing up for her classes. About half the people in her class dropped out every semester, supposedly. Ethan already counted five so far. He’d like to, too, but he was too far into the semester to get much of a refund. So he’d just have to stick it out - and having Brian around at the end of the day made it bearable.

 

And besides, as distracted as he always got during study sessions, this topic - the Inkwells - did oddly fascinate him, if only for the fear component. It was 2018. There were expected to overflow this coming decade. Or two, max. Heck, they could overflow tomorrow for all he knew.

 

Ethan drew a pie chart showing the casualty percentages. This was easier for him to remember than having a wall of text in his face. 30% dead, 60% injured, 10% OK. Wow, those were  _not_  good numbers. If the odds were a little more in favor of survival…

 

Nah, what was he thinking? That was too outlandish to even fantasize about. The three hosts have already been chosen, anyway. It was on the news a while back. They didn’t say what their names were. To protect them, he guessed. Not sure from what. Maybe so nobody would, like, try to assassinate them and steal the Lights for themselves or something.

 

 _Sigh._ But nope, not little old Ethan Nestor. He wasn’t a host. This was his place in the world. Right here.

 

* * *

_I... how did they know?_

_What did I do wrong?_

_I’ve told nobody except Marzia._

_Marzia... if this is my fault, I’m so, so sorry..._

* * *

 

**“What do you mean, he’s missing!?”**

 

The visible jolt in Amy’s body startled Mark into apologizing. Dammit, he let his anger take over again. He needed to stop doing that, for her and everyone’s sake. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just…”

 

“It’s okay.” She was too forgiving of him, in his opinion.

 

 _Breathe, Mark._  “He’s missing?”

 

“He left his home several days ago without notice.” Amy handed Mark a tracker showing a current view of the location of Felix’s chip. “We tracked his coordinates and this is where it says he is. It’s not too close to the predicted location of the blue Light, but not so far from it as to be implausible that that’s where he was going. But neither he nor anyone else in the area has requested an SOS, nor has anyone responded to our confs, nor has the death alarm gone off. And it hasn’t moved since we started tracking about 20 minutes ago.”

 

Mark stared at the tracker. The signal was coming from the old Deer Run Trail, though on the outskirts of the woods rather than deep inside, where the blue Light was expected to be. Felix  _did_  live in nearby Kippia, so it wasn’t completely illogical that he’d be out there for some other reason, but either way, his inability to communicate with anyone was making Mark nervous. No, it wasn’t dire, they didn’t  _have_  to have these Lights right this second, and it wasn’t advised they try to get them right now, regardless. But if something bad happened to Felix, they  _needed_  to know right now. He handed the tracker back to Amy, sighing and shaking his head. “Why would he attempt to go get a Light… number one, by himself, and number two, this much earlier than we need to?”

 

Amy shrugged. “Well, if he’d answer our confs, we’d know that.”

 

“So he hasn’t moved, but he’s apparently not dead, but he’s apparently not sending or receiving signals.” The only explanation... No. That couldn’t have been it. There’s no way they could’ve known that Felix was going to be out there. Did someone in that damn cult figure out his information? And if so, what did that mean for himself and Jack?

 

“Unless his chip isn’t working right.”

 

The benign explanation snapped Mark out of his anxious stupor. Oh. That was a possibility, too. Of course. That didn’t mean they had no reason to worry, but at least... At least maybe he could think rationally. “Well, whatever the case, we need to round up the gang and head out ASAP.” Mark made way for the door. “If he’s in danger,  _we’re_  in danger.”

 

* * *

 

_“SOS, tracking your coordinates… What is your emergency?”_

 

_“My partner just got hit in the eye with a piece of glass!”_


	3. Deer Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I typed up like a quarter of this really fast and only skimmed through it before uploading.
> 
> NO PROOFREADING WE FANFIC LIKE MEN

Friday. Hallelujah. Ethan hopped onto his bike and took it for his weekly spin outside of town. Picking classes such that he’d give himself a three-day weekend every weekend was easily one of the best decisions he’d ever made in his life, minus the whole Judith thing. Not that the bar was set that high to begin with. Hehe.

...No, he told himself he wouldn’t put himself down like that anymore, even in jokes. It was a personal goal he’d set for himself. Far too often, he was getting himself genuinely down in the dumps, wondering if he’d ever figure out what he _really_ wanted to do with his life. He’d thought college would help him answer that question. So far, it hadn’t. Part of the issue was that the only thing he wanted to do, he feared he couldn’t do:

He wanted to be part of the SOS system.

It was just so cool! They had the coolest, high-end gadgets to find people’s near- _exact_ location. Trackers and chips and pagers! And they saved people! They rescued people in trouble!

But he was told he was idealizing the field a little too much. It wasn’t all adventure and happily-ever-after. The mundane was routine. The public were often headache-inducing. And gruesome stories were abound to haunt a person for the rest of their life.

Gruesome stories including rookie screwups that cost someone their life.

In all fairness, another professor he’d talked to about it – his favorite, Cindy – did say she believed in him, and that even though the idealized version of the career he had in his head may not have been the reality, that didn’t mean he should give up on it, and she claimed to have sensed that he was capable of the work ethic needed to succeed. Brian, too. Brian pushed him to sign up for more classes in line with what’s needed to move into the field. But Ethan just... didn’t have the confidence.

Were it not so high-risk like that, he’d be okay with the looming threat of failure.

Ethan sighed, breathing in the fresh breeze and clearing his head somewhat. He stopped his bike at his usual spot here – the entrance to Deer Run Trail – climbing off and leaning it up against a tree.

This old trail on the northeast side of town was otherwise a nice getaway from life. Here, he didn’t have to worry about any of that garbage. Only thing he had to worry about was accidentally stepping too far inside and getting chewed out by a ranger.

The canopy was especially lush this week. Probably from all the rain they’ve been getting the past few days, the leftovers of which were soaking into his shoes and socks. The bugs were thick, too. Hence why Ethan had practically showered himself in vanilla spray prior to, just in case. Seemed to be working. It made a safe little gnat-free bubble around him. Plus, he smelled like vanilla now.

Wonder why this place was abandoned? It was about, what, five or six years since they opened up that new trail on the other side of town? Which he also kind of liked, but there was something special about hanging around the entrance to this one. It was weird; it wasn’t like he was into the whole “nature” thing back then, but something about places left behind drew him in. Something that made the place feel so lonely. A forest didn’t have feelings, obviously, but the lack of human interaction with it still made Ethan feel sad for it. Made him want to make it less lonely.

Just a small step in. It wouldn’t hurt. He knew the limit. He knew what was off-limits. Just a few small steps in. Let himself be swallowed whole. No sign of any rangers yet... but something else caught his eye.

Over in the distance, still along the trail, a vivid blue glow dangled up in the low branches of the trees. That wasn’t a flashlight, was it? Or even his imagination? There wasn’t any bug that he was aware of that made a glow that color. Or that big. Hopefully.

Curiosity pulled him farther in. He had to find out. If it was a ranger, then so be it. He could play dumb. It wasn’t like he was causing trouble, anyways. But what would they be doing up in the trees? Well, it wasn’t like he knew what all their jobs entailed.

But the closer he got, the more he realized it wasn’t something that was supposed to be there, any way one tried to look at it.

What...

“What the hell is that!?”

 

* * *

 

Seán’s eye was so badly damaged, it was going to have to be removed. Thus, he was whisked away to the OR. In the meantime, while awaiting his return, Robin made the call to Signe to tell her the news and get her to come over here.

She wasn’t exactly thrilled, but of course, who would be?

 

* * *

 

_The man held out his hand. In it, a ball of the light._

_This wasn’t..._ the _blue Light, was it?_

_Why... Why would he be giving him...?_

_Regardless, he needs help._

 

* * *

 

As much of a rush as they were certainly in, did Tyler _really_ have to lead-foot it down the highway?

Well, whatever. They were on foot outside Deer Run now. A metallic blue and silver bike, followed by a fresh set of tire tracks in the grass and mud, was leaning up against a tree at the entrance.

“Whose bike is this?” Mark asked.

“Guess we’ll find out.” Tyler took the lead – holding and watching the tracker – if only because he ran as fast as he drove. Mark, Amy, and Kathryn kept their eyes peeled for any sign of Felix off the trail, just in case his chip gave some wrong coordinates.

Hopefully not _too_ wrong.

“I see someone!” Tyler took off sprinting even faster somehow, leaving the others in his dust. “Hey!”

“Don’t scare them!” Kathryn called out.

“He’s probably not going to listen to you,” Mark said.

Tyler stopped, which allowed the group to catch up to him. The unmistakable glow of the blue Light illuminated his silhouette. Its owner: a random teenage boy.

Or seemingly random, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ethan's being mistaken for a teenager, just in case that last bit's confusing.


	4. Lights Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while. I was busy figuring out the boys’ backstories and internal struggles and whatnot.

“Who are you?” asked the gruff man towering over Ethan. Well, he was probably only a few inches taller. But his curt demeanor, piercing glare, and officer’s uniform made Ethan feel like he was shrinking.

“I-I...” The answer failed to come out. Ethan was paralyzed. He was screwed. He was so, so screwed. “I didn’t do this-“

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Tyler, just stop,” called a woman behind him. She definitely wasn’t an officer, judging by her outfit. Maybe a detective, brainy-looking glasses and all. “Look how scared he is.”

A second man suddenly barged past Tyler and Ethan to the dying man in the snare. This guy was on a mission. He was someone who carried an air of importance and dominance around him. What he lacked in height compared to this Tyler guy, he made up for in bulk, rage, and determination. Like he could suplex Ethan if he so much as looked at him wrong. Yet Ethan couldn’t help but not look as this man - surprisingly gently - took the snared guy’s shoulders in his hands and asked, “Felix. Can you talk?”

Felix let out a weak groan. His eyes were glassy, unfocused, sunken. His body was skin and bones. How long had he been here that he was starving? But wouldn’t dehydration have killed him first if he was here that long? Lack of water killed people faster than lack of food, right?

“Felix, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you-“

The man was interruped by Felix’s hand in his face.

“Just... Did this kid take your Light from you?” he asked, pointing at Ethan. ‘Kid.’ Once again, mistaken for younger than he actually was.

Felix shook his head and held out his trembling hand, fingers curled up, just as he had minutes earlier with a ball of the blue Light in his palm.

“You gave it to him?”

Felix couldn’t answer. His arm collapsed.

A second woman - jeez, they sent the whole squad to punish him, didn’t they? - announced herself coming through with a knife, cutting the net and easing Felix down with the help of Tyler and the glasses girl.

“Dammit, Felix, you’re not gonna die on me!”

“Mark, just help us, would you?” asked the girl with the knife.

The man - Mark - sighed and scrunched his face in frustration. He and Tyler stood underneath Felix, ready to catch him once he was cut free.

The light in Felix’s eyes extinguished itself before they did.

 

* * *

 

Seán woke up with his stomach churning, as the nurses told him would most likely happen. They had given him a long, green sack, just in case. Even so, he didn’t want to throw up, persistently swallowing all the saliva building up in his mouth. Disgusting, and a little embarrassing, since Robin was still hanging around making sure everything was going okay. He couldn’t think about anything else. Not even his eye, really, despite the bulk of the gauze pressing against it.

Signe happened to catch them in the hallway as they were transferring him to his room upstairs. “Seán?”

“Mm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Might puke.”

Signe stepped a little behind his head, out of sight. “I’ll stay out of the line of fire. Is he okay?”

“Nausea is very common after anesthesia,” one of the nurses explained. “He’s doing well.”

Seán made it to the elevator without incident. They were only going up one floor. Just one. Still, he had the bag ready, right up against his chin.

“There’ll be a bump,” the nurse said just before easing the bed into the elevator. Seán’s stomach lurched a bit, and he grimaced. Signe and Robin squeezed themselves in after, him pressing the “3”.

The sudden lurch of the elevator made Seán’s stomach drop and it’s contents come up.

 

* * *

 

“Come with me,” the girl with the knife - Amy - said as she opened up the doors to the back of the van and hurried Ethan inside. What a nice, homey interior, with cushioned seats along both sides to stretch out and have a nap. In a corner up against the passenger seats ahead was a small, boxy TV on top of a mini fridge, strapped down with bungee cords and hooked up to a small generator in the opposite corner. Scattered across the floor were miscellaneous clothes, all plain and dark-colored, save for a rainbow-striped beanie.

Ethan politely sat himself down on one side, and Amy across from him. “What’s running the generator?”

“Some solar panels Mark stuck on the roof.” She took the beanie out of the pile.

“DIY guy, huh?”

“RIY, more often than not. Reck It Yourself. Here.” Amy started putting the beanie on his head.

“Wait, but doesn’t ‘wreck’ start with a W?”

“I know. I just like ‘RIY’.”

“How come I need a hat on?”

She tugged down on the sides of the beanie, pulling, tucking, getting everything covered completely. “It’s to cover up your hair. You’ve got a Light now, so your hair’s bright blue, and we don’t want people to know that. Your eyes are super blue, too. There should be some sunglasses in the center console...”

As she clambered up to the front of the van looking for them, Ethan asked, “But blue eyes are normal, right?”

“Not when they’re shiny. Come up here - look in the mirror.” Amy pointed to the rear-view mirror, and Ethan squished himself up against the seat, trying to get the best view of himself.

“Whoa.” The irises of his eyes were practically sparkling a morning-sky blue. Upon pulling up one side of the beanie, his hair bore the same color and shimmer. A huge smile and an amazed laugh forced themselves through. “That’s so cool!”

Amy cracked a smile in response. “It is really cool.” She let him retake his seat.

“I guess I saw it on that Felix guy, so I knew it was going to do that, but it’s just so weird when it’s on me!”

Amy stayed silent as she sat down across from him. Her lips lightly squeezed together, suppressing any words. It reminded him why exactly he was here, sucking out the cheer.

“I... I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“No, you’re not in any trouble,” she said, shaking her head. “We don’t think you tried to kill Felix or anything. Or at least, I don’t.”

Well, at least he had one person on his side. That was reassuring.

“We just don’t want someone with a Light in them running around out in the open. What you saw out there is the exact reason why no Light host can be alone.”

That didn’t make sense, though. “So why was he alone?”

“That’s what we want to know.”


	5. Fear of Unknowns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I hope these people aren’t too OOC. I can pin it on different life experiences in this AU, but still.

“No, Tyler, you’re not driving again,” Ethan heard Mark ordering as he opened the driver door. “Just get Felix in the back.”

Wow. Bossy. Ethan leaned in towards Amy, whispering, “Shouldn’t we be getting an ambulance for him?”

Amy shook her head and rolled her eyes, like this happened all the time. “Don’t try to fight with Mark when he’s under stress like this.”

...Wow.

“And it’s not like they can do anything about it. He’s already dead. They can’t bring him back to life.”

The back doors opened, and Tyler and the other girl - wonder what her name was - eased Felix onto the floor, covering him with the mound of clothes. Tyler took a seat right next to Ethan, towering over him once again, while the girl with the glasses sat next to Amy. Dang. Didn’t they think it was kind of creepy, wasn’t it, sitting next to a corpse?

Maybe... they were used to it? That thought wasn’t much better.

“What really confuses me,” called the glasses girl up to Mark as he turned the ignition, “is why was Felix taking the blue Light? I thought that was Jack’s.”

_Who’s Jack?_

“It was,” he called back. “Felix was supposed to have the red one.”

 _Are they assigned colors or something?_ But Ethan was too intimidated by the group to say anything.

 

* * *

 

“But I know that search and rescue often requires a very keen sense of vision, and without both eyes, it could impair your ability to judge distance enough that...”

In the small break in the doctor’s words, Seán nodded in understanding. It seemed to hush her. He knew he couldn’t just pretend it wasn’t true, but... He got it.

His dream job, everything he poured his heart into... Only now did it fully sink into Seán just how many eggs he crammed into that basket.

 

* * *

 

Amy threw open the back doors, and Ethan followed her out, hopping down onto the pavement. So this was the base? He wanted to look at it without the sunglasses on, but he’d probably get yelled at for taking them off. Outside, the single-story building hardly stood out amongst its neighbors. Drab, gray brick exterior with only ‘TEAMIPLIER SOS & DISPATCH CENTER’ and a set of automatic glass doors decorating it. Then again, if they involved themselves with something as secretive as the Lights, it would make sense to disguise themselves as ordinary.

Ethan’s stomach suddenly rumbled. Whoa. Even Amy heard that one. It _was_ getting late. The sky was already noticeably darker than when he first stepped into the woods. But man, the hunger hit him like a freight train all of a sudden.

“We’ll get you some food.”

What? They barely knew him. Ethan didn’t want to mooch food off them. “Uh- No, no, it’s fine-”

“No, seriously, you need to eat way more than you usually do because-” Amy cut herself off, looking around herself as if she felt they were being watched. What few random passersby that were around didn’t seem to be paying attention to them, and the other three members clambered out of the van, leaving Felix behind. She took and nudged his shoulder. “Come on.”

Ethan figured all would be explained later. Or that’s what he told himself to justify not having to ask these scary people questions.

The doors slid open. A golden retriever pranced up to them, looking for attention. On a dog bed to the left was a red-haired, vaguely-retriever-ish mutt with its ears perked up.

“This is Chica, and she loves everybody,” Amy said while scruffing up the retriver’s head. “And that’s Henry over there. He’s super shy, so don’t be offended if he doesn’t let you pet him right away.”

“You can have dogs here?”

“Now that Mark’s the boss, yeah. Helps that they’re both well-behaved. And they’re our dogs from home.”

Ethan gave Chica a great big hug. _Ahh, she’s so fluffy!_ He eyed Henry, still in alert mode. He would love to pet him, too, but he didn’t want to scare him. Maybe if he stuck around enough, Henry would warm up to him.

But never mind that; the dogs almost distracted him from the surrounding area. Huge computers with screens showing charts, symbols, and text that he couldn’t read, about a dozen people sitting next to them either answering calls or running errands and chatting with each other. So cool!

Mark ignored all of it, heading towards an ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ door in the center of the back wall. “Come here,” he told Ethan and the others, gesturing with a curl of his finger for them to follow him. He punched in a long series of numbers on a nearby keypad, and the door clicked unlocked. Wonder how long it took him to memorize the code so well he could punch it that fast?

Beyond the door was a hallway stretching to the left and right. Doors dotted the back wall, all heavy and impenetrable and required key codes, and Mark made way for one just to their left, and punched in another long series of numbers. The door clicked, and he pushed it open.

Inside was a brightly-lit conference room, decorated with lush, green plants, including a fuzzy-looking baby cactus; childish construction-paper cutouts forming rainbow chains hanging across the ceiling; and a whiteboard with some professional-looking nonsense and some... less-than-professional drawings hiding in the bottom right corner. Who would’ve thought that people in this serious of a job would be this un-serious with their environment? Ethan supposed they were people, too.

There were six men and women gathered around on computers or tablets, all suddenly looking up at the group - and at Ethan. They definitely knew what was up with his hat and sunglasses.

Mark broke the silence. “Uh, is it Signe’s day off, or...?”

“She took the weekend off to be with Seán in the hospital,” one of the women explained.

_Who’s Signe? Who’s Seán?_

Alarm bells seemed to go off in Mark’s head as his eyes went wide and he suddenly started yelling. “What do you mean- What’s he in the hospital for!?”

“Eye injury.”

“Do _not_ tell me they attacked him, too.”

“She assures us that it was a freak accident.”

Mark was already pulling out his phone in the middle of her sentence, dialing up a number, presumably this ‘Signe’.

 

* * *

 

Seán stared out the window, Signe’s hand in his. Much better view from this one in the hallway than the one in his room, which only had more of the concrete hospital building against a darkening gray cloud cover. Here, at least he could see all the trees amidst all the other shops and businesses in the area. Streetlights were starting to flick on. Cars and pedestrians roamed the streets below.

At best, it barely drowned out the noise in his head. The noise telling him that he fucked over his own future and now had to suffer the consequences of his choices.

He tried to focus on the feel of Signe’s skin between his fingers. One sliver of calm comfort in the vortex swirling around him.

“You okay?”

“Hm?” Her voice yanked him out of the chaos. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just, your hand is fidgeting a lot.”

...It was true, his fingers kept rubbing and squeezing her hand without him even noticing. “Oh. Sorry.” He stopped doing it, still hanging on. “I’m just... not in... the best headspace right now.”

Signe’s phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her. She pulled it out with her free hand. “This is Signe.”

Seán could only barely hear the chattering of a male voice on the other line. No discernable words.

“I’m sorry, if this is about work, I can’t talk right now, I’m out in the open. Give me a second.” She let go of Seán’s hand. “I’m heading back to the room.”

“Who is it?”

 _Mark_ , she mouthed back at him as she power-walked back to Seán’s room and shut the door.

...Now Seán was curious.


	6. Why Are You Like This?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to jinx myself saying this, but this story’s actually pretty easy to write so far.

Seán peered into his room, quickly shutting the door at Signe’s gesture. Her face was pale with shock. Her hand covered her mouth. Seán’s heart started getting jittery. What was happening?

“I don’t know what to tell you. I was told it was an accident. I’m not sure how what happened to Seán- Will you just _listen_?”

He wouldn’t, judging by the frantic yammering Seán could hear. Loudly enough that Mark could hopefully catch that he was there, Seán asked, “What the hell is going on?”

More talking from Mark, at which point Signe sighed and handed the phone to Seán, without looking at him or saying anything. Whatever it was, it made her incredibly upset.

“Hey, Mark,” he said with a hint of irriation in his voice. “What gives?”

_“Oh, hey.”_ Deadpan. _“Bad news, Jack. Felix was attacked.”_

Seán’s heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean, attacked?”

_“We found him in a net trap near where the blue Light was. And he had the Light in him.”_

“Why the blue one?”

_“We don’t know. But he gave it to some random teenage boy or young man or however old he is who happened to be in there.”_

“He _gave_ someone his Light?” Jeez, every sentence made even less sense than the last. “Why?”

_“Jack... Felix died of starvation right as we got there.”_

“He’s _dead_!?”

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

_“Which is why I need you to tell me the truth: were you attacked or not?”_

Why was Mark being like this? Why was he more concerned about the cause of Seán’s injury than the fact that Seán just _lost one of his friends_?

“No, Mark, I wasn’t fucking attacked, Felix is _dead_!?”

_“I’m sorry-”_

“No, you’re not.”

The words came out without any input from his thoughts, and they silenced Mark.

“I’m coming out of the hospital sometime tomorrow, and I’m gonna come over there and talk to everyone in person about it, alright?”

Mark’s voice shifted to a more somber tone. _“All right. We’ll see you then.”_

“Bye.”

_Click._

 

* * *

 

As Mark continued arguing with this ‘Jack’ guy, one of the people in the room - a big-boned bear of a man with dark hair and a full, wiry beard - pulled out a packet from a desk drawer, a plain silver pouch with a pink cap on one end. “Here,” he said, offering it to Ethan. “It’s a calpack.”

“A what?”

“A calpack. A calorie packet.”

Ethan took the ‘calpack’ in his hands, feeling it. The contents were squishy. Like a packet of baby food, only firmer. “So I’m supposed to eat it, or...?”

“Yup. It’s a very high-calorie paste of sorts. The Light’s using your own metabolism to keep itself going, so you need to eat a lot more than usual to keep yourself going.”

Ethan twisted the cap. “ _Ohh_ , so is _that_ why Felix starved so fast?”

A little more quietly, “Yup.”

Ethan gave the calpack a squeeze, catching a bit of paste on his finger. The contents came out thick like toothpaste. Looked like any white toothpaste one would find on the market, too. This was weird. Especially with people around him watching. Nevertheless, he stuck his finger in his mouth, and grimaced at the taste. Not horrible, but definitely not good. He couldn’t pinpoint just what the flavor could be described as. Just generic, bitter _bad_.

“I know it’s not the best-tasting,” the man said. “But it’s the safest and most efficient way to keep you alive.”

Ethan caught sight of Mark ending the call, having not paid any real attention to what he was saying while these people were telling him about calpacks. Mark said, “All right, I need one of you to come out to the van with me.”

“Is it about Felix?” the same big guy asked.

Mark nodded. “You... want to see him?” The somber tone to his voice suggested that maybe this guy was good friends with Felix. _Man..._

The man didn’t say anything, just nodded and followed Mark out the door, closing it tightly behind them.

Ethan’s stomach growled again in their absence.

“You’re going to have to eat the whole thing,” Amy told him.

“The whole thing?”

She grinned. “The whole thing. Just stick it in your mouth and suck it all out.” Someone in the office snorted.

“Uh...”

“Yeah. Really drink it _aaallll_ up,” Tyler added with lewd, midair squeezing and stroking motions. The office burst into giggles.

“You’ll learn to like the taste!” a woman from the back called out. Bigger laughter followed. Wasn’t everyone pretty quiet just a moment ago?

_Who_ are _these people...?_

 

* * *

 

_Sigh._  “Damn.”

“Yeah, ‘damn’ is right.”

Ken set the shirt back down over Felix’s face, shaking his head and shutting the door on his side again. “You gonna break the news to his fiancée?”

Following suit on the door, Mark sucked in some air and bit his lip. “I mean... I don’t know. I never met the guy before we became set, so... It’d be a little suspicious, you know? I don’t want to be a target, too.”

Ken nodded. “Yeah, it might not be the best idea for you to go to his funeral because of that, either.” They rested on a pause, before he added, “I can do it.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. It’s no problem for me.”

Mark could see a tear welling up in the corner of Ken’s eye, but made no comment on it. Ken put on a fairly stoic façade in moments like these. Kind of like Felix himself, actually. It never surprised Mark that those two got along so well.

...Wonder if this new kid would pass the exam?

Somehow, Mark felt he very well could. He _damn hoped_ he did. The notion that this kid could fail the exam and then be released back out into the world, fully knowing Mark’s identity and definitely having enough information to figure out Jack’s...

It scared him.

Felix’s death was the confirmation that someone was out to get them. And the Inks were due to spill at any moment.

There was no time.


End file.
